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Published: July 30th 2018
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This time we didn't have to get up too early. Peter, Margie and Ivica had to be here
before 9:30 so that the reservations are not cancelled. We parked the SUV, payed the entrance feee and then waited until 10:15 to get on jeeps with our tour guides, members of the local Indian tribe.
The entrance of Upper Antelope Canyon.
It looks really amazing, much better than on any photo.
On the other hand, probably 99% of pictures that can be found on web are color-enhanced, so don't be fooled., it is not that orange as they make it.
Here's one for grandchildren.
When your Indian tour guid throws some sand on the rock and tells you to take photos of falling sand, you have to listen.
This is the other entrance into the canyon. With pictures and well-coordinated group mouvement, we arrived here after 20 or so minutes.
On the way back you just walk, no pictures, no movies, to
avoid congestion with incoming groups.
Peter did his homework briliantly so he booked us a tour just before the 'tripod' group. In 'normal' groups you are not allowed to carry anything but a camera, no sticks, no tripods, no bags, no water bottles. The tripod group is for wanna-be professionals and is allowed to carry tripods to take 'perfect' pictures. Of course, they are professionally charged for this comodity. The timing for the tripod group is between 11 and 12, when the beams of sunrays hit the canyon under the 'perfect' angle, creating shapes of light slowly moving across the canyon floor and walls as the Flat Earth stands still and the Sun is slowly carried by a rotating sphere. On our way back we arrived at the first chamber of the canyon right on time to withness this magic together with the tripod group. In this blury image you can see one of their tour guides orchestrating where they should position their tripods.
This is the best that my mobile camera can get.
We are lucky to have Peter with his monster camera to take much better ones.
To get the beam more magical, a tour guide stealthily throws sand in the air.
Here is the same beam from another angle.
This is from the other side (with the tour guide not so stealthy anymore).
Here is Margie, Ivica and a grumpy looking tour guide.
But he was actually quite nice, suggested to everybody from where they should take a picture and how to setup their cameras and mobile phones for the best effect.
We got back to our SUV and headed back to Page, to meet Luc and Elahi at the airport and to return the SUV. Luc didn't go with us in Upper Antelope Canyon because he has already been there 10 years ago but back then he did not visit Lower Antelope Canyon. Elahi didn't go with us because two antelopes in one day would be too much for him, so he also goes only in the lower one. After some quick eating, we were all back inside our bellowed RV.
During our visit to Lower Antelope Canyon clouds covered the Sun,
so the colors were a bit toned down. This one is similarly curved as the first one so overall we have not been so impressed.
To enter (and exit) Lower Antelope Canyon one needs to use stairs.
Although the groups have been similarly sized, the coordination between the tour guides is not really that good as in the upper one, so we started to bunch up with the group in front and the group behind which maybe the experience additionally less appealing.
Still there are some very nice places.
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